Back in 2007, I wrote a paper for a college course on colonialism and culture, where I argued that Las Vegas was able to reinvent itself into a family-friendly destination by its theme-based hotels. (Read the paper here: Final Project.) These hotels have appropriated colonial images and themes, like the Statue of Liberty, in the tradition of the Crystal Palace exhibition. The various hotel themes, when put together, create an “imagined community” on the Vegas strip where visitors can experience famous sights and destinations from around the world. So the transformation of Vegas is now complete…